Of arms and a woman / Blondel
late medieval wind music
medieval.org |
firsthandrecords.com
renaissance-winds.com |
planethugill.com
First Hand Records 69
2019
[61:19]
1. Se le face ay pale [1:55] Guillaume DUFAY (1397–1474)
2 soprano shawms, alto shawm, tenor sackbut, tabor
2. Or me veult bien esperance [2:12] attrib. Guillaume DUFAY
soprano shawm, 2 alto shawms
3. Belle, veulliés moy retenir [2:19] Guillaume DUFAY
soprano shawm, 2 alto shawms, frame drum
4. O rosa bella [1:59] John BEDYNGHAM (c. 1422–c. 1460)
alto recorder, 2 tenor recorders
5. Les tres doulx ieux du viaire ma dame [2:40] Gilles BINCHOIS (c. 1400–1460)
alto recorder, 2 tenor recorders
6. A cheval, tout homme, a cheval [2:46] ANON. (15th century) | arr. E. Gutteridge
soprano shawm, 2 alto shawms, slide trumpet, tabor
7. Reveillez vous piccars [2:57] ANON. (late 15th century) | arr. E. Gutteridge
2 bagpipes, slide trumpet, tabor
8. Gardez le trait de la fenestre [2:17] ANON. (late 15th century)
soprano shawm, 2 alto shawms, tabor
9. Dueil angoisseus [2:14] Gilles BINCHOIS
soprano shawm, 2 alto shawms, tenor sackbut
10. Le ray au soleyl [2:01] Johannes CICONIA (1370–1412)
2 alto recorders, tenor recorder
11. Tout par compas suy composes [1:25] Baude CORDIER (1380–1440)
2 alto recorders, tenor recorder
12. Guillaume de MACHAUT (1300–1377) [4:33]
Aymi! dame de valour | arr. E. Baines
Je vivroie liement | arr. E. Gutteridge
3 bagpipes, tamburello
13. Corps femenin par vertu [3:25] SOLAGE (fl. late 14th Century)
soprano shawm, 2 alto shawms
14. Le Souvenir de vous me tue mon seul bien [2:06] Robert MORTON (c. 1430–c. 1479)
soprano shawm, 2 alto shawms, tenor sackbut
15. Le Serviteur hault guerdonné [2:50] Guillaume DUFAY
soprano shawm, 2 alto shawms
16. Le Serviteur (Superno nunc emittitur) [2:00] John BEDYNGHAM (1422–1460)
alto recorder, 2 tenor recorders
17. De quan qu'on peut belle et bonne estrener [2:17] ANON. (late 14th century)
alto recorder, 2 tenor recorders
18. Anxci bon youre [1:31] ANON. (15th century)
soprano shawm, alto shawm, slide trumpet
19. Adiu, adiu dous dame [2:09] Francesco LANDINI (c. 1325–1397)
soprano shawm, 2 alto shawms
20. La Spagna [1:32] ANON. (late 15th century)
soprano shawm, 2 alto shawms, tenor sackbut
21. [5:37]
Pues serviçio vos desplaze | attrib. ENRIQUE (15th century)
Cançión contrahecha Pues serviçio vos desplaze, letra y punto | ANON. (15th century)
alto recorder, 2 tenor recorders
22. Allez a la fougere [2:06] ANON. (late 15th century) | arr. E. Gutteridge
3 bagpipes
23. [2:54]
Lomme arme | JOSQUIN DES PRÉS (c. 1450/55–1521)
Lome arme (falsum) | ANON. (15th cent?)
Lom arme | Robert MORTON
soprano shawm, 2 alto shawms, tenor sackbut
24. Files a marier ne vous mariez ja [1:51] Gilles BINCHOIS
2 soprano shawms, alto shawm, tenor sackbut, tabor
Blondel
Belinda Paul |
Lizzie Gutteridge |
Emily Baines
recorders, shawms, bagpipes
Daniel Serafini
slide trumpets, sackbut
Louise Anna Duggan
frame drum, tabor, tamburello
Blondel performs ceremonial fanfares and intimate chansons, dances and
theatre music on shawms, bagpipes, recorders, curtals and a variety of
percussion – all reconstructions of historical instruments.
Blondel’s past performances include concerts at the Cheltenham
Festival (broadcast live by the BBC), the Cambridge Early Music, the
King’s Lynn Festival, the Beaminster Festival, the Leeds
International Medieval Congress, the Wimbledon International Music
Festival, Totnes Early Music Society, the
Barnes Music Festival and the Worcester Early Music Festival. The
Agincourt600 Committee recently commissioned Blondel to make a
recording based around the life of Henry V, which is available as a
free download from https://blondelwinds. bandcamp.com/releases.
Members of Blondel heard on this recording have performed with the
Academy of Ancient Music, the London Contemporary Orchestra, the
Gabrieli Consort and Players, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, I
Fagiolini, The Royal Shakespeare Company, the Akademie für Alte
Musik Berlin, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Joglaresa and the
Freiburger Barockorchester.
INSTRUMENTS
Soprano shawms by Fritz Heller and Robert Cronin
Alto shawms by Jim Parr and Robert Cronin
Tenor recorders by Rob Nelson
Alto recorders by Bodil Diesen
Bagpipes in G by Sean Jones and Jon Swayne
Bagpipes in D by Jim Parr and Jon Swayne
Slide trumpet by G.J.v.d. Heide
Slide trumpet and tenor sackbut by R. Egger
Tar frame drum by David Roman
Photos / images:
Album cover image: Venus attacks the castle and figures before a statue
illuminated 15th-century manuscript by Robert Testard (Ms Douce, 195, f. 148v),
The Bodleian Libraries, The University of Oxford
Page 7: part of a fresco by Pinturichio c. 1505, Siena Cathedral, Tuscany, Italy
under licence from shutterstock.com
Page 3: instruments which are featured on this recording taken by Belinda Paul
Pages 12 and 27: taken by Sally Parkinson
Pages 23: taken by Arngeir Hauksson
Page 24: taken by Stefan Splinter
Manuscripts:
Page 9: Guillaume Dufay Or me veult bien esperance
(Mellon Chansonnier, MS 69v–71r)
Page 16: Baude Cordier Tout par compas
(Chantilly Codex, Musée Condé, MS 564, fol. 12)
cliché : IRHT- CNRS
FHR thanks Blondel and Peter Bromley
Recorded at St Mary's Church, Stoke-by-Nayland, UK, 24-27 July 2015
Produced and engineered by Adrian Hunter
24 bit, 96 Khz hi-resolution recording and mastering
℗ & © The copyright in these sound recordings is owned by
First Hand Records Ltd
www.firsthandrecords.com
In 1410 Christine de Pizan (1364–c. 1430) produced an extraordinary book called The Book of Fayttes of Arms and of Chivalrye (Livre des fais d’armes et de chevalerie):
a manual on modern warfare. It was commissioned by Jean, Duke of
Burgundy as a gift to the 12-year-old dauphin, Louis de Guyen, it
earned her a payment of two hundred livres from the royal treasury, and
it was at least as influential in its time as Niccolò
Machiavelli’s The Prince.
One day I was surrounded by books of all kinds... my mind dwelt at
length on the opinions of various authors whom I had studied... it made
me wonder how it happened that so many different men – and
learned men among them – have been and are so inclined to
express... so many wicked insults about women and their behaviour... it
seems that they all speak from one and the same mouth...
The opening lines paragraph of the Book of the City of Ladies (1405)
If my face is pale, the cause
is love. That is the main reason, and because this love is so bitter to
me, I would throw myself into the sea. Well she knows, this lady that I
serve, that I cannot be happy without her.
Fair lady, please keep me as
your servant, for without a doubt you are my only mistress. It is my
heart’s desire to serve you, should that be your wish.
O beautiful rose, o my sweet
friend, please don’t let me die. Alas, must I end in misery for
serving you well and loving loyally?
The sweetest eyes of my true
lady often bring me joy and happiness. Her sweet comportment and
sweeter conversation fan the flames of love. Alas, often my heart
falters at the great misery I must endure. The sweetest eyes of my true
lady often bring me joy and happiness.
ANON. (15th century) | additional trumpet part E. Gutteridge
In
the saddle, every man on horseback, good companions, saddle up. Leave
the women and the young girls and serve the King with a loyal heart.
Wake up, men from Picardy and
men from Burgundy, and find yourselves some good clubs, for the spring
is here, and with it the time for war, to strike heavy blows.
Farewell, Salins, Salins and
Besançon, and to the city Beaune where the good wines are. The
Picards drank them, the Flemish will pay them four pastars a pint, or
they will be beaten.
Beware the arrow from the window, lovers who pass along the street: for they will wound you sooner than any bow or crossbow.
Agonising grief, unmeasured
rage, grievous despair, full of agitation, endless languor and an
unfortunate life full of tears, anguish and torment, doleful heart
which lives in the shadows, disembodied and on the cusp of death,
continually and without cease; thus I can neither be cured nor die.
Dueil engoisseux, rage desmesurée,
The sweet turtledove sleeps,
ever rejuventating, captive in the embrace of the ray of sunlight,
appears with good reason in your perfect realm.
Very little is known about Ciconia’s early life. He was born in
around 1370, probably one of the many illegitimate children of Johannes
Ciconia of Liège (a priest) and a woman of high birth. According
to Vatican records Ciconia was granted a papal dispensation for his defectus natalicium which allowed him to hold ecclesiastical posts and gave him leave never to admit to his illigitimacy again.
I was composed with a compass, as befits a round, so that I may be sung
more surely. Look how I am arranged, friend, I pray you kindly. I was
composed with a compass, as befits a round. Three times my
circumference is encircled. Chase me with joy if you sing with a true
heart. I was composed with a compass, as befits a round, so that I may
be sung more surely.
Alas,
honourable lady whom I love and desire, you bring me the misery that
causes me to languish. Sweetest of creatures, how can you be so
angelic, yet so set against me when I have given you my heart, my body
and my love without regret? But you let me pine to the point where I fear I shall die.
My life would be easy, sweet
creature, if only you would realise that you are the cause of my
unhappiness. Lady, you have a cheerful manner, you are pleasant, clean
and pure. Often I cry out at the suffering I must endure as your loyal
servant. Truly I cannot continue to live like
this if it lasts any longer.
For you treat me without mercy and without pity, and you have put such
such a fire in my heart that it must surely die a miserable death,
unless you step in soon and show some mercy.
SOLAGE (fl. late 14th Century)
The female body, a gift of nature, is devised, designed and built to
perfection. So noble indeed, is your face, so incomparably modest, and
more beautiful than any flower, so sweet and pleasing is the loving
glance of your laughing eye, that I am made by sweet memory a joyous
and happy captive.
The memory of you kills me,
my only love, when I cannot see you. In faith I swear to you that
without you all my joy is lost. For I swear to you by my faith, without
you my joy is gone. When you are out of my sight I feel sorry for
myself and say to myself I am alone and desolate, nothing can comfort me. And so I suffer without making a complaint until your return.
I find myself the most well
remunerated of servants, fulfilled and very fortunate, the happiest of
all the men in France, and all because of a single well-placed word. It
seems to me the best possible gift after all the grief I have
attracted through this new alliance, for I find myself the most well
remunerated of servants, fulfilled and very fortunate, the happiest of
all the men in France, and all because of a single well-placed word.
Of all I have to offer to a
beautiful and pure lady, in wealth, in honour, in joy, in pleasure, I
wish to give today. My lady, he who endures complete agony wishes to
give her this thought, so that she might soon lighten my life, since it
is she who holds the key to my pain.
Farewell, farewell, sweet
pretty lady; my body cries as you leave me, but you have my soul and
spirit. Alas, I shall live far away from you in misery, though I shall
remain true to you all my life. That is why, alas, bright star, I beg
you, with tears and gentle sighs implore that you be loyal to your
friend.
Since my attentions displease you, and my compliments make you
miserable, I don’t know what would satisfy you. I don’t
know who knows it. I’m really confused, I serve you generously
and you treat me like an enemy. In fact I think
you take pleasure in my pain. If my death would satisfy you, I do not know who knows it.
Go to the fern patch and don’t be bashful. In Paris by the little
bridge, brunette, on the rushes we’ll build a nest.
The armed man must be feared; it has been proclaimed everywhere that
every man should be armed a coat of mail. The armed man must be feared,
the armed man must be feared.
Girls, just don’t get married, for if he is jealous, he will be jealous, and he will never make you happy in your heart.
© 2019 B. Paul
Of arms and a woman — late medieval wind music
Henry VII owned a copy and commissioned an English translation. The
book was in Elizabeth I’s library, along with several other of
Pizan’s works. There is a copy bearing Napoleon’s mark in
the Bibliothèque National in Paris. Henry VIII, on the other hand, turned to Il Principe for guidance.
The Livre des fais d’armes et de chevalerie
included extensive reflections on the theological and ethical
implications of conflict. Pizan argued that the only honourable war was
a just war, fought by Kings in the name of God, and in doing so
conveniently paved the way for the introduction in France of an edict
outlawing nobles from raising armies for their own, potentially
treacherous, purposes.
The book begins, conventionally enough, by laying out historical
examples and philosophical analyses designed to buoy the faltering
conscience of a neophyte monarch, but its scope is far more ambitious.
The bulk of the work is devoted to the nitty gritty of combat:
strategy, assembling an arsenal, siege techniques, and paying and
feeding an army. It was, above all else, a practical guide written in
the vernacular, explicitly targeted at middle class professional
soldiers who, although literate, wouldn’t necessarily understand
Latin.
Christine de Pizan was a forthright feminist, a writer, political
theorist, royal agony aunt and the author of self-help books
commissioned by the highest in the land. She was born in Venice, but
spent most of her life in France. Her father was the King’s
astrologer, and her husband, Estienne de Castel, a royal secretary.
The fragility of her family’s charmed existence was exposed when
astrology fell out of favour at court and her father lost his post; he
died in 1386 leaving behind debts. Then in 1389 Estienne died without
warning (possibly of plague), also in the red; Christine was
twenty-five and a widow. Facing bankruptcy, and with three children,
her mother and a niece to support, she took up her pen and began to
write romantic poetry.
It didn’t take her long to attract wealthy patrons. She had spent
her childhood rifling through palace libraries, and she knew her
market; after all the life of a nobleman wasn’t played out
entirely on the battlefield. On home turf the knight was
transformed from warrior to social ornament: an accomplished musician,
poet, and sportsman, and a master of the art of courtly love. His life
became a work of art, played out according to the rules of court
etiquette.
In the world of chivalric romance the women are impossibly beautiful,
unapproachably noble, and usually married to somebody else. The men are
correspondingly good-looking, selflessly devoted, and fearless in
combat. But perfect love cannot withstand reality – betrayal, a
change of heart or the ordinariness of everyday life; the lovers are
trapped outside the narrative, their fate determined by a battle
between love and life itself. The outcome was never in doubt –
love must survive, and so the lovers must die, or at least threaten to.
There can never be a happy ending. Turn the page of any chansonnier and
the story plays out once again. Another lady, another knight in shining
armour, another Tristan, another Iseult, another doomed love affair.
In
her lifetime Christine was accepted as one of the foremost writers and
thinkers in Europe. Her reputation today rests on her determination to
give women a voice, and it is this that sets her apart from her
contemporaries. She believed that since both women and men are built in
God’s image, they are intellectually and morally identical; both
equally susceptible to vice and capable of wisdom and goodness. In her
view, unless women were given the same audience as men, the same
education, accorded the same attention when they spoke and wrote, the
subjugation of women was inevitable – they would live invisible
lives as perpetual bystanders, and die leaving barely a trace of a
memory, a shadow in the historical record.
Guillaume DUFAY (1397–1474)
1. Se le face ay pale
(Museo Provinciale
d’Arte, Castello del Buonconsiglio, Trento, MS 1376 [89] (Trent
89). Text from Oxford Bodleian Library, MS Canonici Misc. 213)
This untexted four-part reworking of Dufay’s popular three-part chanson is built around the existing Superius and Tenor,
and is particularly well-suited to wind instruments. It is unashamedly
rowdy, which might seem to be at odds with the self-pitying text.
However, the lyrics are riddled with silly puns, and the original work
is a virtuosic show piece, not a sentimental study of unrequited love.
If I carry a heavy weight of
grief, it is this difficult love that I must bear, for she will allow
me no pleasure other than that of serving her. And so, as I am in her
power, I cannot be without her.
She is the most regal creature anyone could hope to see, and I cannot help but feel loyal love for her. I am foolish
look at her, and seek no love save hers. I must be near her to avoid misery, without her I cannot exist.
(attrib.) Guillaume DUFAY
2. Or me veult bien esperance
(Mellon Chansonnier, MS 69v–71r)
The earliest surviving settings of this work are textless, so it is possible that it was originally an instrumental piece.
Guillaume DUFAY
3. Belle, veulliés moy retenir
(Oxford Bodleian Library, MS Canonici Misc. 213)
Belle, veulliés moy retenir is a song in which a lover offers up his heart as a New Year’s gift to his beloved.
The exchange of New Year’s gifts (étrenne)
formed an important social function in both diplomatic, romantic and
family life during the Middle Ages. By the 14th century a highly
formalised ritual had developed around the art of gift giving; it
operated at every level of society and was a fundamental element of the
chivalric code.
Kings and noblemen would commonly commission songs from the greatest
composers of the time which were then elaborately presented in richly
decorated manuscripts alongside equally impressive works of art,
fabulously bejewelled trinket boxes and the like.
Dufay composed at least ten New Year’s Day chansons during his
career. Although his contemporaries also wrote in the genre he seems to
have been the most prolific and his works provide a blueprint of the
style. Most would have been commissioned by wealthy patrons and are
settings of formulaic texts.
This New Year’s Day I
offer you my heart, which only you can cure of suffering and misery.
Fair lady, please keep me as your servant, for without a doubt you are
my only mistress. It is my heart’s desire to serve you, should
that be your wish.
You can cause me to pine
away, and you can cause me delight and bring me great happiness.
That’s why my heart will not cease to entreat and plead: Fair
lady, please keep me as your servant, for without a doubt you are my
only mistress. It is my heart’s desire to serve you, should that
be your wish.
John BEDYNGHAM (c. 1422–c. 1460)
4. O rosa bella
(Wolfenbüttel Chansonnier)
Little is known about John Bedyingham (or Bedyngham, Bodigham,
Bellingun, Benigun, Boddenham). O rosa bella was an enormously
successful and much copied work, both in its original form, and as the
subject of extensive reworkings. The text is a badly corrupted
transcription of a stanza of a ballata
by Leonardo Giustiniani, in which a generic young man claims he is
dying and begs the unattainable girl to rescue him because he’s
been loyal in his devotion to her.
Gilles BINCHOIS (c. 1400–1460)
5. Les tres doulx ieux du viaire ma dame
It is my heart’s desire to serve you, should that be your wish.
(Oxford Bodleian Library, MS Canonici Misc. 213)
I want nothing other than to
serve more than to serve her body and soul, for I hope that my lady
will shortly and without fear come to me and bring me comfort with her
beautiful words which are as sweet as my soul.
The sweetest eyes of my true lady often bring me joy and happiness. Her
sweet comportment and sweeter conversation fan the flames of love.
Alas, often my heart falters at the great misery I must endure.
6. A cheval, tout homme a cheval
(Palacio Real, Monasterio de S Lorenzo, San Lorenzo de El Escorial, MS IV.a.24)
The anonymous rondeau A cheval
is a rousing call to arms which feeds into all our romantic notions of
medieval chivalry, although it does include a slightly disquieting hint
at what might happen to any traitors or rebels. Quite a few women did
accompany armies to war (surprisingly many wives with their children in
tow, as well as tradeswomen and prostitutes), however these ones were
clearly not invited.
You who are of royal blood, and are in command of the troops, in the saddle, every man on horseback, good companions,
saddle up.
For truly he comes with love
through this valley, accompanied by the best of men. He will thoroughly
punish the rebels if they are found to be disloyal.
In the saddle, every man on
horseback, good companions, saddle up. Leave the women and the young
girls and serve the King with a loyal heart.
ANON. (late 15th century) | additional trumpet part E. Gutteridge
7. Reveillez vous piccars
(Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, fonds français 12744)
Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy died in possession of extensive
territories (Picardy, Artois, Franche-Comté and Burgundy
itself). Following his death in 1477 his daughter Marie inherited his
lands, and later shared control over them with her husband, Maximilian,
Archduke of Austria.
The future of Burgundy was uncertain; squeezed between competing powers
and threatened from many directions (not least from King Louis XI of
France), Marie and Maximillian managed a temporary stability, but the
writing was on the wall.
Reveillez vous piccars calls
upon loyal Burgundians to throw their weight behind Maximillian, the
Duke’s successor. It is still sung in France today, and appealed
so much to Ralph Vaughan Williams that he set it for tenor and piano.
Some talk of war, not knowing
what it is; I can tell you upon my soul that it is a terrible thing.
And many a man-at-arms and many a good companion have lost lives,
cloaks and hoods in it.
Where is the Duke of Austria?
He’s in the Netherlands. He is in Flanders with his Picards, who
beg him night and day to lead them into High Burgundy to conquer it for
him.
When we are in Burgundy, and
the land is free, then will be the time to celebrate. We’ll chase
the King of France out of these hills and fill up on wine from our
barrels.
ANON. (late 15th century)
8. Gardez le trait de la fenestre
(Dijon Chansonnier)
The slightly disturbing text of Gardez le trait
has been attributed to Charles the Bold, the last of the Valois Dukes
of Burgundy. Had the poem been written by anybody else these peculiar
arrows aimed at passing lovers could be mistaken for Cupid’s
darts, but coming from the hand of Charles the Bold we are almost
certainly meant to take his advice literally.
Charles the Bold was an austere, pious, and cultured man. He was also
belligerent, pitiless and obstinate – qualities which would
ultimately lead to his grisly and untimely death.
Don’t look to the right or the left, but lower your eyes. Beware
of arrows shot from windows, lovers who pass along the street.
If you don’t have a good doctor, commend your soul to God as soon
as you are wounded. Death is waiting for you, summon a priest. Beware
the arrow from the window.
Gilles BINCHOIS
9. Dueil angoisseus
text by Christine de Pizan (1364–c. 1430)
(Palacio Real, Monasterio de S Lorenzo, San Lorenzo de El Escorial, MS IV.a.24)
Binchois’s hauntingly sparse setting of Christine de
Pizan’s grief-laden poem on the death of her husband retains a
poignant immediacy that shakes us as though time were no barrier at all.
Pride, determination, without
joy, sad thoughts, deep sighs, vast anguish trapped in a weary heart,
bitter resentment borne in secret, mournful disposition without joy, a
sense of foreboding which destroys all hope, these are in me and never
leave me; thus I can neither be cured nor die.
Unceasing care and worry, bitter waking, troubled sleep, work without purpose, undertaken without passion, destined to grievous
torment, and all the ill which one could ever say or think, without
hope of succour, cause me unmeasurable torment, thus I can neither be
cured nor die.
Princes, pray to God that
very soon he may allow me to die if he does not intend to relieve the
misery in which I painfully languish; thus I can neither be cured nor
die.
***
Grief desespoir, plein de forsennement,
Langour sanz fin, vie maleürée
Pleine de plour, d’engoisse et de tourment,
Cuer doloreux qui vit obscurement,
Tenebreux corps sus le point de perir,
Ay, sanz cesser, continuellement;
Et si ne puis ne garir ne morir.
Fierté, durté de joye separée,
Triste penser, parfont gemissement,
Engoisse grant en las cuer enserrée,
Courroux amer porté couvertement,
Morne maintien sanz resjoïssement,
Espoir dolent qui tous biens fait tarir,
Si sont en moy, sanz partir nullement;
Et si ne puis ne garir ne morir.
Soussi, anuy qui tous jours a durée,
Aspre veillier, tressaillir en dorment,
Labour en vain, a chiere alangourée
En grief travail infortunéement,
Et tout le mal, qu’on puet entierement
Dire et penser sanz espoir de garir,
Me tourmentent desmesuréement;
Et si ne puis ne garir ne morir.
Princes, priez a Dieu que bien briefment
Me doint la mort, s’autrement secourir
Ne veult le mal ou languis durement;
Et si ne puis ne garir ne morir.
Johannes CICONIA (1370–1412)
10. Le ray au soleyl
(Mancini Codex)
Le ray au soleyl is a
mesmerisingly beautiful prolation canon – that is a canon based
on ratios of speed rather than time delays – in this case 4:3:1.
He was employed by the Papal Legate of cardinal Philippe
d’Alençon and was based in Rome by 1391. He seems to have
been associated with the court of Giangaleazzo Visconti from the early
1490s until the end of the century.
Ciconia’s musical style is difficult to pin down; his secular
works cover a wide variety of genres and he set texts in several
languages. He revelled in a kaleidoscopic range of stylistic features,
freely adopting aspects of the French Ars Nova, the Northern Italian Trecento, and the Ars Subtilior.
The text of Le ray au soleyl refers to one of the emblems of Giangaleazzo Visconti – a dove holding a ribbon bearing the text A bon droyt, designed by Petrarch for the occasion of Visconti’s second marriage in 1380 to his cousin, Caterina.
Ciconia left us with another puzzle canon Quod jactatur, which has yet to be convincingly solved.
Baude CORDIER (1380–1440)
11. Tout par compas suy composes
(Chantilly Codex, Musée Condé, MS 564)
Tout par compass is a canon of a more conventional sort, although
it is not as straightforward as it sounds. It is one of the most modern
works in the Chantilly Codex, and also an early example of Augenmusik
(eye music) – music in which graphic notation is used to inform
the performer, but is obviously inaudible to the listener.
Guillaume de MACHAUT (1300–1377)
12. Aymi! dame de valour | arr. E. Baines
Je vivroie liement | arr. E. Gutteridge
(F-PN fonds français 843)
Aymi!
dame de valour is one of Machaut’s early works. The dance-like rhythms
and catchy tune are typical of many of Machaut’s monophonic virelais.
Alas, honourable lady whom I love and desire, you bring me the misery that causes me to languish.
I am made to suffer beyond all
limits, gracious lady, most worthy lady, but I have never intended to
dishonour you. Instead I have, without rest, attended to your bidding,
and shall do so without putting a foot wrong until I die.
Alas, honourable lady whom I love and desire, you bring me the misery that causes me to languish.
But the love of your sweet face and
great beauty, and your noble figure adorned with fine clothes causes me
to cry night and day, never to feel joy; my heart lives in sadness,
beyond healing.
Alas, honourable lady whom I love and desire, you bring me the misery that causes me to languish.
***
13. Corps femenin par vertu de nature tant noblement
(Chantilly Codex)
Solage is another medieval mystery composer. Corps femenin par vertu de nature and Calextone qui fut form a pair of ballades
which are associated with the marriage of Jean, duc de Berry and Jeanne
de Boulogne, which took place near Avignon in 1389. The two chansons
are united by an acrostic. Unfortunately the final stanzas of Corps femenin are lost, but the acrostic in Calextone qui fut spells CATHELLINE LA ROYNE DAMOURS.
Robert MORTON (c. 1430–c. 1479)
14. Le souvenir de vous me tue mon seul bien
(Pixérécourt Chansonnier)
Robert Morton was an English cleric employed at the Burgundian Court.
He served both Philip the Good and his successor, Charles the Bold,
husband to Margaret of York, the sister of both Edward IV and Richard
III. Le souvenir de vous me tue
is a captivating work – its transparent scoring and sweeping
melody, was as appealing to the medieval ear as it is to ours; it was
one of the most reproduced chansons of the age.
(Guillaume DUFAY)
15. Le serviteur hault guerdonné
(Dijon Chansonnier)
Le serviteur hault guerdonné
was a popular choice of text, and Dufay’s setting was the most
widely distributed song before van Ghizeghem came up with the
chart-smashing De tous biens plaine. Le serviteur hault guerdonné was still being copied more than 40 years after it first appeared, with astonishingly little deviation.
The text is uncharacteristically modest and undemanding: the voice in this poem is content with a single, well-placed word.
I used to be the abandoned
man, the miserable unfortunate, but then your charity bolstered my
hope, and this fine name was given to me, for I find myself the most
well remunerated ofservants, fulfilled and veryfortunate, the happiest
ofall the men in France, and all because of a single well-placed word.
John BEDYNGHAM
16. Le serviteur (Superno nunc emittitur)
(Museo Provinciale d’Arte, Castello del Buonconsiglio, Trento, MS 1377 [90])
Another setting of the same text.
ANON. (late 14th century)
17. De quan qu’on peut belle et bonne estrener
(Chantilly Codex)
De quan qu’on peut is
another New Year’s song. The anonymous composer has thrown his
entire world into this impossibly clever, ever so modern creation
– and the result is far more than an eccentric compendium of
polyrhythms; this strangely beautiful work is the musical counterpart
of the gifts he offers. No heart on a plate here, it’s the moon
on a stick.
ANON. (15th century)
18. Anxci bon youre
(Museo Provinciale d’Arte, Castello del Buonconsiglio, Trento, MS 1376 [89])
The basse danse was traditionally accompanied by a loud wind band (Alta Capella)
– professional players of shawms and brass who specialised in
improvising florid variations above a slow moving tenor line to
accompany dancers. The sounds of those ensembles have long since
faded away, but we can get a flavour of the style and flamboyance from
the (very clearly composed) surviving settings scattered in manuscripts
across Europe.
Anxci bon youre delabonestren
appears as a monophonic tenor line in Bodleian Library MS Digby 167,
and also as a three-part setting in Trent 89. The title in the English
manuscript is corrupt but could plausibly be derived from a lost New
Year’s chanson entitled Ainsi bon jour de la bonne étrenne.
Francesco LANDINI (c. 1325–1397)
19. Adiu, adiu dous dame
(Codex Squarcialupi)
ANON. (late 15th century)
20. La Spagna
(Cancionero musical de Montecassino)
This is one of the many surviving settings of La Spagna, the most popular of all basse danse tenors. Although it began life as a dance melody it quickly developed a life of its own,
underpinning countless purely musical compositions, and even making its
way into the church.
21.
Pues serviçio vos desplaze | attrib. ENRIQUE (15th century)
Cançión contrahecha Pues serviçio vos desplaze, letra y punto | ANON. (15th century)
(Cancionero de Palacio)
These two pieces come from the Cancionero de palacio. is assumed to have been composed by Enrique. The
anonymous Cançión contrahecha Pues serviçio is
based upon an identical rhyme structure and metre, and both songs cover
the same vocal range and include the repeating phrase que lo sienta.
Enrique was a servant at the court of Carlos Prince of Viana just
before the Prince’s death in 1461. The Catalan poet Pere
Torroella was at the court at the same time, and probably wrote the
text. It is possibly one of the earliest surviving 15th-century Spanish
songs, as well as one of the oldest works in the Cancionero de Palacio.
ANON. (late 15th century) | arr. E. Gutteridge
22. Allez a la fougere
(Dijon Chansonnier [tenor only])
Allez a la fougere appears uniquely in the Dijon Chansonnier as the
lower texted voice of the combinative chanson† Sans jamais /
Allez a la fougere. The tune, which is attractively folk-like, may have
been co-opted into this piece of art-music – although it could
equally well have been composed for the occasion.
The text of Allez a la fougere (the tenor) exhorts a lover to create a
nest in the bracken and rushes by the river, while the upper voice
laments the fact that her lover left her pregnant and didn’t even
say goodbye.
† A popular format in the late fifteenth century in which
several apparently incompatible texts and melodies are combined to form
one cohesive composition.
Lie down on the rushes, brunette. Lie down on the pretty rushes.
23.
Lomme arme |
JOSQUIN DES PRÉS (c. 1450/55–1521) |
(Canti B [Petrucci, Venice, 1501])
Lome arme (falsum) | ANON. (15th century?) |
(Basel, Universitätsbibliothek F.X. 1–4 No. 114)
Lom arme | Robert MORTON |
(Rome, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana MS Urb. lat. 1411)
L’homme armé is a bit of a puzzle. It lies at the heart of
more than thirty mass settings, and yet there are very few secular
settings of the melody, which is a mystery in itself – is it a
folk tune, or the tenor detached from a long forgotten chanson? And
just who was this armed man? Henry V, Charles VII of France, or Charles
the Bold? Or just a common soldier, an Everyman of the battlefield.
Josquin’s L’homme armé is only a few bars long. The
notation is discouragingly complicated, but is in fact a
straightforward piece in duple time.
Robert Morton’s three part combinative chanson is the oldest
known setting and has been ascribed to him on the basis of an
attribution on the textless four-part version recorded here. The text
in the upper voice (Il sera pour vous) probably refers to Symon le
Breton, one of Morton’s colleagues. It seems
Symon had an issue with the Turks. The four-part setting is from an
Italian chansonnier created for Isabelle d’Este, and probably
formed part of the repertory of a wind band.
Lome arme falsum is an Anonymous setting from a set of early 16th-century part books.
You are going to fight the infamous Turk, Sir Symon, for certain, it
will be so, and you’ll cut him down with your battleaxe.
Once he falls into our hands we’ll destroy his self-respect. You
are going to fight the infamous Turk, Sir Symon, for certain, it will
be so, and you’ll cut him down with
your battleaxe.
You’ll finish him off in no time, God willing, and people will
say “Long live Symon the Breton who vanquished the Turk!”
You are going to fight the infamous Turk, Sir Symon, for certain, it
will be so, and you’ll cut him down with your battleaxe.
Gilles BINCHOIS
24. Files a marier ne vous mariez ja
(Biblioteca Columbia, Seville, MS 5–I–43.6)
Files a marier is folksy, boisterous, and argumentative, and not at all
in the reflective and high-minded style Binchois adopted for most of
his chansons. The tenor is the popular song se tu t’en marias,
while the two upper voices which work in canon, are based on a basse
danse melody.